Indonesia = the 80s

I swear it, Indonesia IS the 80s. If you get in a time machine and travel to the 80s, you'll end up here. Here is why Indonesia is the 80s:

-The TV shows. Game shows, sketch comedy, bad fantasy and soap operas (preferably with elements of bad fantasy involved), that's all there is. To see the muslim version of Joan Collins is truly hilarious.
- To take the tv link one step further, The Gong Show. This is like Red Faces, stretched out into an hour length show. And all the presenters have SO much energy. SO MUCH! SUPER!
- The music. Rock bands with Poison style hair, Pop singers with enormous perms, and the passion, oh the passion. I bet they're just singing about rain in Africa...
- The clothes. The truly trendy folk (orang yang trendi) wear bright clothes on mismatched colours and patterns (although I must admit, I like not having to consider whether my clothes match...)
- The make up. Big purple and blue shadowed eyes never left Indonesia. Someone stopped me on the beach the other day to ask about my 'bedak'- face powder. Apparently my red cheeks are 'Cantik'- beautiful.
- Layering. Because of Muslim tendencies, few people wear little tops or skirts. UNLESS they wear them over the top of footless tights or body shirts! Yeah!
- The obsession with instant coffee. Sumatera is supposed to have amazing coffee. I wouldn't know, everyone is just so excited to offer you instant, or even better, 3 in 1! (That's coffee, sugar and creamer, byt the way).

Went to the beach, it was ok. I can't believe there are so many beaches with dirt coloured sand. Have taken to sitting on Pantai Padang (Padang Beach) of an evening, and have discovered it's a place young couples go to sit in the semi darkness- but not touch. I have not seen a boy and girl touch since I arrived. Also saw a cat strolling along the beach... weird.

So the trip to Bunggus Beach was cool, we hired a taxi for the day (you pay his fare and his food), stopped on the way to FEED monkeys, they take peanuts straight from your hands. Was a bit sad, because they're not really wild any more... but oh so cool! I have lots of photos, I just wish I had a net connection fast enough to upload them :(

Then we went to Pantai Carlos di Bunguss, and swam in the bath warm water, and watched traditional fishermen (they row these huge nets out to sea, then haul them in mby hand over a period of hours!), and I drank from a coconut :) Later we went for my first traditional Padang meal and I ate with my hands! Yeah. I am SO Indo. Except the taxi driver laughed at me, because I wasn't doing it right. Ok, maybe a little way to go.

Giving up my solitary confinement

Wow, an unexpected turn. Let me explain my home situation. I live with Kenny and his Indonesian wife Epit. Robin crossed paths with me for a few days before heading home to NZ. Sarah was supposed to be here teaching as well, but she quit six weeks before I arrived to work on a tour boat to the Mentawai Islands. Now, Robin advised me that Epi is very jealous of other women around Kenny- she was nice to Robin because Robin was 67 (!), but was super edgy around Sarah. But it turns out I have nothing to worry about there- Epi has decided to look after me, bringing me Indonesian cooking and fruits etc. And tomorrow she has decided we should go to Bungus Beach together, because she worries I spend too much time alone. :) Something like a friend. I think the fact that I have a long term boyfriend at home makes her feel I am not a threat...

I have started to read "He's just not that into you"... not because I think Nick's not into me (although... nah!). More because I am running out of books. I brought 5 books (one almost finished, two just begun), plus Lonely Planet SE Asia. I have read three already! And while there are a few books people have donated to the house, there aren't many. So by the end of my time here, I expect to have read a lot of trashy Mills and Boons, to know all about SE Asia and to have begun trawling my way through Agatha Christy novels- almost the only English novels in Gramedia, the big book store here. I posted myself a few novels and reference texts, but who knows if they'll make it through the Indonesian mail. Here's hoping.

I am hoping to get my hands on Harry Potter in Indo if it's not too expensive and translate it back to English to improve my language skills. I had wanted to get a tutor, but really don't know how to go about it and for only two months... I am currently learning Indo the way so many kids learn English- sitting in front of the tv with my dictionary! And I'm improving through day to day conversations, and through asking my students translations.

So far I am free of Bali Belly. I don't drink the local water, but I do eat the local food (even food I know the travel advisories tell me I shouldn't, like at a warung, or that's been washed in local water, or tea which may or may not include local water). Realistically, you have to do this, or live like Robin did, alternating from coleslaw to boiled veges. She saved a lot of money and she never got sick, but BORING. Today was the first day I got very adventurous though, mostly I have eaten the evening meals the school provides or nasi goreng (nothing like nasi goreng in Aus, SO much spicier, and comes with either a fried or a scrambled egg). Today I ate random chicken with rice and random green vege thing. And I am drinking random weird Asian milk drink. I have no idea what these sweet fruity milk drinks are, and I shouldn't drink local milk as it might not be pasteurised. But I came for a different experience, damn it. Plus it's fun drinking out of a plastic bag...

It's a monkey!

Yesterday was National Day, so it was a holiday. There were flags out everywhere, but all that seemed to change was that those lucky enough to work in an office had a day off. The warung stall holders and restauranteers all worked as hard as usual (not that I am complaining, it's hopw I got my dinner).

I spent the day finally working out why I could never find the market or the pool- there are unmarked streets on the map, but they're normally quite small. I'd been wandering up a large one, not realising it was actually a residential unmarked street and subsequently becoming completely lost. Yesterday I managed to find the pool :) and know the market is just down the road.

The pool charges 20,000 RP, which is about $4. Cheap enough by home standards, but when you consider that this is equal to 20 pineapples, or 3 kg of bananas, or about 6kg of potatoes by prices here, it is pretty expensive. So I will go once a week or so... and just deal with the staring. People keep staring! It can be frustrating being a novelty item. Sometimes it is funny though- having watched me swimming, a father tried to teach his girls freestyle. Also yesterday, a teenager called out 'Cantik! Beautiful! You are very beautiful.' This resulted in a herd of small boys running after me calling 'Beautiful, beautiful!' Very funny, and like a cheesy scene in a movie.

After lazing around (the heat makes this so easy, and I have a nice seat on a balcony which gets some breeze. It's my favourite place in the house) for several hours (I'm going to finish all my books soon!), I decided I was wasting my time. So I lazed around planning trips around Sumatera I probably won't be able to take! My only long weekend while I am here begins... tomorrow. So while I' love to go down the end of the island to see Krakatua and Taman Nasional Way Kamar (the big old volcano and a national park with tigers, elephants and Sumateran rhinoceros), it takes a 28 hour bus trip, so I doubt I'll make it. I will definitely make it to Bukitinggi though, a 2 hour bus trip, where they have a zoo and creepy Japanese caves and other STUFF.

If I chose to stay longer, I klnow I could see all these things. In fact, I'd pretty muich have to, because i have discovered that I could not leave the country. A kitas, work visa, allows one entry and exit only. To go home for xmas, I'd have to pay about a million rupiah. And who knows how much to get back again. It's not worth it. I will have seen enough of this area in two months, and I will just come for a holiday if I want to see the rest one day.

Anyway, realising that I was STILL wasting my time, I decided to trek to the local Tamar (Park) on top of a very big bloody hill. It didn't look that big. However, half way up the steps, (huge steps, how do such tiny people go up such big steps?) I realised I was sadly going to DIE. I had to stop numerous times to sit on the steps and look like a fat unfit bule. On one of these stops an Indo guy tried to talk to me (An Indo guy with long hair, tatts and a big KNIFE), but clearly he spoke no english and I didn't understand all he said. He decided to walk with me, but not long after I started to die again and had to sit and was quite happy for him to go on without me.

When I finally got to the top, I was disappointed: I'd been told there were many monkeys up there, but I saw none. I saw goats, and the Indo guy stopped chopping whatever he'd come up to chop with his big knife and sat and smoked and watched me (which was disconcerting), but no monkeys. So I decided it might be the wrong time of day, and headed off to take photos of nearby islands and wait for the Indo guy to go away. He did, and I turned to find the way back down this big hill/ small mountain and saw... MONKEYS! Three big grey monkeys walking across the clearing. These guys ran away when they realised I was there, so I only got one shot. I soon realised there were monkeys jumping in the trees too, red ones. And then, walking down the hill, I cam across monkeys who just ignored me as I came within metres of them.

I actually got pretty emotional about it. There's something really special about seeing animals in their natural habitat. In Australia we don't see that much. Kangaroos in the fields, possums in power lines. It's not exactly natural, they've adapted to what we have created. One of my favourite things in Melbourne is to go to Yarra Bend Park and watch the flying foxes. But to see animals that are wild, and still living very close to the way they always have is really nice. The INdoneisans are doing some awful things to their country- I didn't realise til Nick asked me about it, but we don't have cloud at the moment, it is smoke haze from bush burning for clearing areas for farming- but they still have wild animals.

Indo Super SHOW

Indonesian TV is weird. Really hyper. I am not watching stacks of it- maybe half an hour as I watch my dinner, cos there's no one to talk to- and I don't understand more than a few words, but it is totally crazy. Last night a watched a movie "Mysteries of the second world- Snake Queen". It was... crazy. Worst. CGI. Ever. A really cartoonish, early playstation type snake would 'bite' people's heads, but you could still see their heads in the background as they thrashed :)

I'm still lonely. I try not to be, but damn, it's really hard. Anyone wanna come work in Padang, my director is looking for another teacher apparently. Although the house and pay are shit, and you'd only have me to talk to... what an advertisement.

Anyone who says teaching ESL is easy is not doing their job properly. Or maybe I just worry too much about it. Tried to do some suplementary stuff with my adult class, who are about intermediate. Just extra stuff on the grammar they had been 'looking at' in this topic, comparitives adjectives. They didn't even know what an adjective was. I can't just teach what's in the book, I need to know they understand it. Sadly, their previous teachers didn't really do that. They know rote phrases, not the actual language. I could just teach the bookwork, but I'd feel I was doing a bad job.

Oh, re contacting me: internet is REALLY slow at school and only works before 11am. So I am trying to check it a few times a week, depends on how patient I am. I don't have mobile, not sure if I will get it connected or not. You can phone me at home, I think I emailed most of you the number (email titled "Application to Padang" or similar), but we are three hours behind (funny, feels like thirty years) and I work 11-8 Mon, Wed, Fri and 3-9 Tues, Thurs (yeah, long hours.. so much for "Most classes are between 5 and 9"... liars). So it's hard to get on to me. Weekends are best but I'm not always in, because I get depressed if I stay in the house. I have set up a STA travel phone thing which you can leave a message on and I can call you back for about 50c a minute... but I have forgotten the details. I'll work them out another day.

I am sure there's more to say, but I am getting too sad. I think I'll see you in October. If only my real estate would email me back about my request to NOT put my flat back on the rental market...

Saya Ibuleh

Buleh means foreigner in local slang- and Ibu means 'mother' or 'Mrs' in Bahasa Indonesia. Hashed together these words are said as I walk around the street. More common, though, is "Hello Miss" (Or occasionally "Hello Mister")- which leads to the following conversation: Me: "Hello" Indonesian:"How are you?" M:"I'm good, how are you?" I:"I'm fine too" (Becasue they presume I have said "Fine", as that's what they're taught in school). So I say this about twenty times every time I leave the house. It's ok, most of the time people are wanting to practice their English, and this is all they remember from school or dealing with the few foreigners or tourists in town.

So anyway, while Padang is technically a city, it looks and feels like a shanty town. 600,00 there may be in the area... the 'city' stretches for miles, and there are houses up the hills, and in graveyards and all sorts of crazy things. It's dirty, there is rubbish everywhere and the streets are rubble in a lot of places and what traffic rules???? You just step into the street with your hand out and walk slowly, so the cars and obeks (motorbikes) can swerve around you. There are a few pedestrian crossings or traffic lights, but they are primarily ignored. There are maybe ten white people in all of Padang at any given time. I am very lonely. :(

But on the whole, Padang is fairly nice. I am ok with the weather, I'm getting used to it (it's pretty damn hot though, and humid, but it cools down in the evening, and you get breezes from the sea- never wind). The food is cheap (I got 14 bananas yesterday which I haggled down to 5,500 Rp (I love haggling, it's fun!) which is about $1NZ), as are other groceries comparative to Australia. Dairy and bread are the most expensive things, which simply puts them at about the same price as in Australia. Imported items, which are available from a little Chinese store, are more expenisve, really luxuries. Padang is a very relaxed place, despite the frantic beeping of the minibus taxis, and the zooming obek. And it is beautiful if you look past the poluution and rubbish.

If I'd written this a few days ago, it would have read that I was coming home on the next flight. My mood fluctuates from day to day, hour to hour really. I have learned the meaning of ramshackle- it IS my house. Holes in windows, walls, doors that don't fit, the shower doesn't work, so we use a mandi (Indonesian bathing tub, which you pour buckets of water from over yourself). And of course, Indo toilet, but I knew about that. The power goes out most days, which means we have no running water because the pump is electric. The house depresses me if I stay there long, so I'm lucky that Robin, a teacher who left to go home again today, was there to take me out and show me around.

Robin first took me to the school, which is quite nice. Good facilities, and it really calmed me down. I can deal with school, it's familiar. Pity the computers are utter crap, so the internet almost never works- I'm in a net cafe right now. That annoys me, because it's supposed to be a part of my contract that I have net access. Then she showed me the markets, where to go swimming, a few places I might want to know around town.

Yesterday she took me up a hill just beyond the town. It's quite a hike, but you get a view of the city, and the beaches. Air Manis (literally 'Sweet Water') is about 45 walk over the hill and is nice for swimming... but of course then you have to walk back. I might try it next weekend. The hill climb showed me massive bright butterflies, an old Chinese graveyard, scrwany scrawny chicken, goats and dogs, and a monkey tied to a washing line. Later today I plan to go up to another hill, a longer walk, but where you end up in a park with lots of monkeys. They all have rabies, I'm sure, but they're not brave enough to come close to you.

If I were not alone, this would be fantastic. But Robin went home today, the Australian girl I was told lived and worked here quit two months ago, and Kenny is married to an Indo girl and rarely around. He and his wife are looking for their own house, and are being pushed by the school director to do so. I hope they don't, the house is huge, and I'm scared to be there alone.

Because of this, I doubt I'll last my whole contract. I'm currently planning to do two months, and when I return to Singapore (originally to change my visa), I will most likely come home. The I can be in town for Nick's birthday (miss you so much babe) ...and U2! If I make two months, I'll still be proud of myself, although somewhat ashamed of breaking my contract... It'll mean I don't have flights reimbursed, but I'll still have had a cheap holiday and a hugely new experience. Is this bad? Please give me feedback... I miss you all, and wish I had someone to show around my new town. That said, I don't necessarily recommend visiting, it really is a bit of a hole. I anticipate the buying of Sudoko books... and thanks everyone for giving me notebooks, I'll need them!